NVIDIA has unleashed their latest GeForce 364.72 WHQL drivers which are ready with full VR support. The new drivers offer GeForce users to run the latest VR HMDs (Head Mounted Displays) from Oculus and HTC and offer support for the latest AAA titles and demos that are built using VR. NVIDIA’s drivers are aimed at their current-gen Maxwell graphics cards which include the GeForce GTX 970, GeForce GTX 980, GeForce GTX 980 Ti and the GeForce GTX Titan X.

With the VR momentum continuing to rise and the available of the VR HMDs approaching, NVIDIA has launched the latest version of their GeForce drivers which deliver support for next generation VR experiences in Maxwell generation of graphics cards. The latest GeForce 364.72 WHQL drivers not only bring VR support but also ready GeForce cards with full support of their VRWorks features, both for VR Headset developers and VR applications developers.

NVIDIA is actively working to support VR developers in accessing the power of their Maxwell and next gen GPU architecture and to do so, they created a imitative known as NVIDIA VRWorks which is a comprehensive suite of APIs, sample code and libraries for VR devs that helps designing new VR experiences and delivers lowest latency with higher performance and easy to use compatibility. Some of the features of VRWorks include:

NVIDIA Multi-Res Shading (MRS) – An innovative new rendering technique for VR. With NVIDIA MRS, each part of an image is rendered at a resolution that better matches the pixel density of the final displayed VR image. This technology uses the multi-projection architecture of the GeForce GTX 980 Ti GPU to render multiple viewports in a single pass. The result: substantial performance improvements for VR games.

VR SLI – Provides increased performance for VR apps. Multiple GPUs can be assigned a specific eye to dramatically accelerate stereo rendering. With the GPU affinity application programming interface, VR SLI allows scaling for PCs with two or more GPUs.

Context Priority – Enables control over GPU scheduling to support advanced VR features such as asynchronous time warp. This cuts latency and quickly adjusts images as gamers move their heads, without the need to re-render a new frame.

Direct Mode – Delivers plug-and-play compatibility for VR headsets. With Direct Mode, the NVIDIA graphics driver recognizes the headset as a VR display rather than a standard desktop monitor, providing a more seamless user experience.

Oculus Rift Head Mounted Display:

The Oculus Rift uses state of the art displays and optics designed specifically for VR. Its high refresh rate and low persistence display work together with a custom optics system to provide incredible visual fidelity and an immersive, wide field of view. Rift’s advanced display technology combined with its precise, low-latency constellation tracking system enables the sensation of presence – the feeling as though you’re actually there. The Oculus Rift comes at a price of $599 US and the package includes a microphone, sensor, headset, Oculus Remote and an Xbox One controller.

HTC Vive Head Mounted Display:

HTC Vive is another major virtual reality headset announced this year that immerses users inside a virtual world. The device fits over your eyes like a pair of ski goggles. Inside the headset are two screens and a set of optics that cause your eyes to see the world around you as a fully immersive 3D space. The highly anticipated VR device costs $799; the package consists of the headset, two controllers and a pair of “Lighthouse” laser base stations which enable tracking in the room.

HTC Vive Features:

$799 US Price

2160 x 1200 combined resolution (1080 x 1200 per eye)

90 Hz refresh rate

32 headset sensors for 360° motion tracking

110° field of view

Adjustable headset strap for form-fitting comfort

OLED display

Interchangeable foam inserts and nose pads

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VR Requirements and NVIDIA’s Recommended GPUs For VR

VR users are classified into two segments by NVIDIA, VR users and VR devs. NVIDIA offers wide support for VR on their Maxwell generation of cards. The GeForce GTX 970 is the baseline for VR and is recommended as the minimum requirement by both HMD makers (HTC and Oculus). Anything above the GeForce GTX 970 will offer better performance at slightly higher price. The GeForce GTX 980 is considered the “Better” option and delivers up to 20% faster VR performance with higher in-game settings in VR experiences. The price difference between the GeForce GTX 970 ($299 US) and the GeForce GTX 980 ($499 US) is of $200 US.

Similarly, the GeForce GTX 980 Ti or two of these in SLI are considered the “Best” option for PC users as it can deliver VR experience with maxed out details. The GeForce GTX Titan X also falls in the same price range and has been a card in use by majority of developers due to its larger VRAM pool and high single precision compute. NVIDIA is currently the only GPU maker with a notebook GPU that is capable of supporting VR and that is also the only full blown high-end chip on desktop front. The GeForce GTX 980 for notebooks is a full blown GM204 core with twice the VRAM of its desktop sibling. Workstation users and developers have the Quadro M5000 as the minimum requirement to support VR so anyone with a M5000 or M6000 is good to go with VR.

Our new GeForce Game Ready 364.72 WHQL drivers are optimized for the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive Virtual Reality headsets, Virtual Reality games like Chronos, Elite Dangerous and EVE: Valkyrie, and other games, such as Dark Souls III, Killer Instinct, Paragon, and Quantum Break. To download and install, simply fire up GeForce Experience and click on the “Drivers” tab. via NVIDIA GeForce

To check whether your PC is set up for VR, you can run your GeForce Experience application within your OS and check to see if the utility recommends your machine as a VR-Ready rig. There are a lot of games launching in ’16 which will support VR, these include EVE: Valkyrie, Elite Dangerous, ADR1FT, Edge of Nowhere, Project Cars, Chronos, Lucky’s Tale and a handful others. The drivers also offer support for the latest released games such as Dark Souls III, Killer Instinct (PC Release), Paragon Beta and Quantum Break.